“If you can add a great beauty to something which is already beautiful, then you must be very beautiful like a white swan adding beauty to a misty lake!” Mehmet Murat ildan
The mid-morning sun shone through the mists rising from a small stream that slowly meandered past the quiet roadway between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Madison River. Laura paused to take in the peaceful beauty of a snowy Yellowstone spring. As an employee of a park concessionaire, she was privy to such moments in the weeks before the park's opening.
It was her second year in the park and she continued to marvel at its different personalities as the seasons came and went. She couldn't say which she loved the most as each was so distinct that there really wasn't any comparison between them. She simply loved it year around.
The air was approaching frigid and snow still sparkled on the ground. It would be a while before the roads were completely clear so she was enjoying a day off by practicing a new skill: cross country skiing.
“Hold up a moment,” she called to her skiing partner and friend, Cliff. In the hush of the moment she didn't have to speak loudly.
Cliff stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
“See anything interesting?”
“This is where I saw the swans before,” Laura replied, “I want to see if I can see them again.”
Carefully he returned to stand beside her and she felt the usual shiver run through her in his presence. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold and one which she was always careful to hide from him. She was in love with him. No need to betray her feelings where she believed they weren't welcome.
Cliff was a park ranger when on duty. They had met during her first summer and had hit it off immediately. Since then they had spent most of their off time together, when those times coincided, and somehow managed to often cross paths when they didn't. He was a good looking man though not handsome in the traditional sense. He was too strong featured and his lean build was deceptive, for underneath all that clothing was evidence of a man who spent a lot of time working out to remain in shape for the demands of his law enforcement duties. At six feet tall, he towered over Laura's five-one, which elicited both feelings of safety as well as profound self-consciousness. Beside him, she felt every one of her extra pounds and every nuance of feminine insecurity. She was comfortable in being his friend, but she wanted more. Unfortunately, life had taught her that she wasn't one from whom men themselves wanted more from, so she kept her secret and enjoyed what she had in him. Friendship.
“How are you doing?” he asked quietly, his breath showing on the cold air.
Laura smiled, her soft blue eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.
“I'm doing great. Thank you again for convincing me to learn to do this.”
“I knew you'd enjoy it if I could just get you out here one time.” His deep brown eyes were also hidden behind dark goggles but his teeth gleamed white in the smile that crossed his swarthy skin, now reddened by the temperature. “I'm glad you finally risked it.”
“Only to stop you from badgering me,” she retorted and he chuckled in response.
They stood for several minutes until Laura was ready to move on. But then, appearing around a bend further upstream, two large white birds, along with a smaller gray, swam serenely into view.
“Look!” she whispered and pointed with one hand, her pole dangling from the strap around her wrist.
They remained still and silent as the great birds swam quietly along the stream, seeming to ignore the humans as they passed a few yards away. Then they disappeared around another bend.
“Odd that they should be here,” Cliff commented in a quiet voice, “This isn't where they are normally seen.”
“I thought the same thing. I was surprised when I first saw them.” Laura smiled softly. “They are so beautiful.”
She waited for him to lead off and continue their foray. But Cliff didn't seem in a hurry to leave.
“Did you know,” he began, “that swans are monogamous and mate for life?”
“No, I didn't.”
“And have you ever seen them touch beaks?”
“No.”
“When they do, their necks arch and they form the shape of the heart between them.”
“I'd love to see that.”
“Mm-hmm. They're are many reasons they are called the bird of love.”
She smiled at him, a gentle humor in her eyes.
“I never knew you to be so romantic.”
He shrugged.
“I'm not, usually.”
“Just in the presence of swans?”
“No. Just in the presence of love.”
Laura's breath caught as he pulled the goggles down to lie against his neck then slipped her sun glasses from her face. Their eyes met and she saw in his an expression she had not seen before.
“What?” Her voice emerged as a whisper of sound. “Cliff?”
“Surely you've guessed before now?”
“Guess?”
His smile was tender as his gloved hand gently touched her face.
“You're more than a friend to me, Laura. You have been for a long time.”
“I-I didn't know. Didn't realize...”
“I'm surprised.” His expression turned rueful. “I thought I was being pretty obvious.”
“Not to me.”
“Would you have minded?”
She slowly shook her head, “No.”
Her cheeks reddened still more beneath the color created by the cold.
“I was afraid I was being obvious, too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Again he stroked her cheek.
“So what are we going to do about it?”
“I don't know.” She smiled shyly. “What do you think?”
“We've know one another for two years now. We should know each other well.”
“Yes, I think so, too.”
“We're good friends.”
She nodded slowly, “Yes.”
“We could be both friends and lovers.”
She swallowed nervously.
“We could.”
“But I don't want to be.”
Her eyes widened in shock and she felt a frisson of hurt touch her heart.
“No?”
“No.” He slid a step sideways, bringing him as close as his skis would allow. “We could be so much more than that.”
Laura remained silent as her heart began to race.”
“We could be like the swans. Together for life.”
“What are you saying, Cliff?”
“I'm saying I love you.” He stroked her cheek, seeming as if he couldn't stop. “I want to spend my life with you.” His voice became husky. “I want to marry you.”
She drew a breath of cold air as her bottom lip trembled. Tears began to glisten brilliantly in her blue eyes.
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, God!”
His expression became a little uncertain even as one dark brow lifted in question.
“Is that a yes or a no?”
“That's an 'Oh God!'”
“I take it you're surprised?”
She nodded helplessly.
“Yes, because I never thought...”
“What?”
She stared at the front of his jacket as she admitted, “I never thought you'd feel the same way.”
Gently he lifted her face to his.
“And how is that?”
“Like I've loved you forever.”
A slow, satisfied smile accompanied the sudden heat in his eyes.
“What took us so long?”
She smiled softly as she lifted her hand to touch his cheek.
“Maybe we needed time.”
He leaned forward and touched his lips to hers before pulling just far enough away for their breaths to mingle on the cold air.
Another one of your love stories that always turn out so perfect and beautiful. This one drawn from your personal experience, like some of the others have been as well.
I haven't looked it up, but I believe that swans were hunted to near extinction like geese and other birds for food. Some of the last of them saved by the remoteness of Yellowstone and its prohibition of hunting. My brother, living near Elkhart, Indiana on the river, sees them often now. And my partner and I saw them on a conference meeting in Austin on Town Lake. We took a video and I wrote a poem and posted it here in 2004. Unfortunately, I linked my poems to my website in those days and my website lost all its poems. I haven't began restoring them yet.
An intern architect at Ryan and Associates, Mateo Diaz has spent the last year learning his craft under the tutelage of partner Alex Ryan. Alex is the closest thing to family that Mateo has known since losing his own family years ago. But not even Al
The mid-morning sun shone through the mists rising from a small stream that slowly meandered past the quiet roadway between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Madison River. Laura paused to take in the peaceful beauty of a snowy Yellowstone spring. As an employee of a park concessionaire, she was privy to such moments in the weeks before the park's opening.
